The Playlist
by minniemouse550
Summary: Booth and Brennan visit a small town. There they meet some interesting people, and solve a murder. A young girl, Elizabeth Smith, helps out the duo after they help her and her sister with a tragic event.
1. I Want You

Finally a case! And this looked like an interesting one too. Plus, it was another 'field trip.' To California! Booth arrived at the Jeffersonian pretty quickly. As soon as he saw Brennan he called out.

"Bones, you better pack your bags! We're going to California!" She didn't complain like she used to when he whisked her off on a field trip. This time she just sighed and looked grumpy for a second before she said

"When do we have to leave?"

"Our flight is in four hours. Pack your bags!" He led her to her office so she could get her things then he yelled over to Cam. "Cam! I'm kidnapping the anthropologist! Orders of the F.B.I.!"

"You ever been to a town called Santa Cruz?" Booth asked her as they drove to the airport together.

"No."

"Great, a new experience for both of us. We're ganna be in the county of Santa Cruz, in a place called the San Lorenzo Valley. They found some bones in the forest, so now we are coming."

"Let me guess, they didn't release the body, so that's why we have to go there?"

"Yep, and Bones, these people aren't too familiar with homicides. The last one completely shook up the town. One of the employs at the local market, who was pregnant, was killed. They figured out who it was, but people stopped going to the market, people quit. Everyone in the town was freaked, even if they didn't know the lady, or the murderer. It will probably be hard to get much out of them. They don't need much publicity, they got hundred foot tall trees for that."

"Wait, we are going to see redwoods?!" She was excided. Red woods! Booth laughed. Was he laughing at her?

"Good, you're enthusiastic." Booth pulled into the long term parking garage and quickly found a parking space. He and Brennan got out of the car, and went around to the trunk to get out their luggage. Booth pulled out his, and before Brennan could reach for hers he grabbed it too.

"Booth, I can get my own luggage."

"Never said you couldn't Bones." This really didn't annoy her that much, but she tried reaching for her bag anyway. Booth pulled it away and began walking, pulling both of the suit cases behind him.

"Booth, you don't have to get my luggage for me!" She said, trying to look annoyed, but failed as soon as he flashed her a smile. Her failure resulted in her smiling back at him, and no longer grabbing for her bag.

* * *

They made it through the lines quickly, a result of the first class tickets Bones had gotten for them. Booth had refused at first, but he finally let her upgrade his flight too, using her extra Miles. Booth had never flown first class before. There was extra leg room, they got a free meal instead of a ten dollar one, and they brought you Champaign. It was great.

They were on the plane by eight-ten and on the runway by eight-thirty-five. Bones was sitting in her chair reading a book with head phones in her ears. Booth was struggling with a stubborn bag of peanuts. When he finally got the bag open, the peanuts flew all over him and Bones. She set down her book and took out her head phones.

"Booth, why are there peanuts all over me?" Booth turned a little red.

"Uh, sorry." He said. She then stuffed her head phones and book in her carry-on.

"Did you bring anything to do?"

"Yeah, uh, my ipod." Booth said. He glanced something she was hiding from him for only a second. She was tired. She had probably spent all night at the lab looking at the new remains from a thousand years ago. What part of 'normal people leave work at five pm' did she not understand? Or the more blunt ' Bones, make sure you don't stay at the lab all night.' He didn't say anything though, just smiled at her, because she proved what he had suspected.

"Okay Booth. I may go to sleep soon." She paused, probably to think of an excuse for why she was going to sleep so early besides 'I broke my promise.' "Flights make me tired."

"What ever you say Bones." She smiled, and then a flight attendant came over and dropped off menus for them so they could order diner.

* * *

An hour later, after Bones had eaten part of her meal, and Booth had eaten all of his, Bone's was resting against the window. Booth had stolen her book out of her bag and tried to read it, but was bored by it. He looked over at Bone's, who lay so peacefully in sleep. She stirred, and Booth worried for a moment, that she would be awaken, when she so much needed the sleep. But she only flipped over, now resting her head on Booth's lap, without even realizing it. Booth smiled, then rest his head back, letting himself take one more glimpse at his partner's perfect features, then closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep.

* * *

"Bones, Bones wake up."She felt someone shaking her a bit.

"Booth" she said tiredly. After comprehending who she was waking up with, she freaked a bit. Wait? What happened? Then she remembered, they were on a plane. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, fixed her hair with her hands and turned to give Booth a small smile.

"We're landing. Gotta put on the seat belt." She reached over and plugged in the seat belt, waiting to hear the little click that came with it. "How did you sleep?"

"Fine," She said, "for being in a plane." How long do we have to drive before we make it to our hotel?"

"Motel, Bones. We're staying at a Motel. Small town, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. How long?" She asked again.

"'Bout an hour and a half since there isn't much traffic in the middle of the night."

"Hour and a half?!"

"Small town Bones, Small town." Great, probably about two or three hours before she got a bed to sleep in. She had slept five hours on the plane, and it was eleven o'clock due to the time change. She still was going to get more sleep than most nights.

"You know, you didn't tell me much about this. Can you tell me everything on the way there?"

"Bones, you should sleep in the car, I'll tell you in the morning." She felt thankful for this. She didn't protest. She didn't say a word more, just smiled. He smiled back.

After picking up their rental car, they set off to the small town on highway 101 south. Bone's slept while booth drove. At two in the morning they were at Quality Inn. They took their suitcases into their separate rooms and both crashed immediately, so to be ready for the next day.

* * *

**Sorry I didn't over book the motel or something to get them to have to share a room, but it was too unrealistic. If I did that it would not seam like a small town. **


	2. Every Little Thing

"The bones were found by some kids in a forest." Booth said as he bit into a bagel that came free at the motel.

"So they were trespassing and found a body?"

"Not exactly. They found it while running in PE. They have forest trails right next to their school and they run in it sometimes. It's called Fall Creak, it's part of Henry Cowel."

"They get to run in a forest in PE? Wow, that's lucky." She said.

"We don't have a near by suitable place for you to work on the bones yet. The closest place so far in an hour away. Did you know that if one of these guys was to have a heart attack they would probably have to drive for a half hour to get to the hospital? It's crazy!"

"Booth, I bet they view the way we live as crazy as well."

"Whatever, Bones. Right now the entire school is on lock down, but they said they would only go for a weak, and then they would have to start school back up. They missed three days of school already this year. They said rain days."

"So we get snow days, and they get rain days."

"Exactly, Bones. Anyway, school starts back up tomorrow. I say we look at the bodies now and question the school tomorrow."

"Okay, where are they being kept?"

"Fire station. If it suits you, they said you could use their space for the bodies."

"I'll have to check, but if it seems alright and the next best thing is an hour away.

* * *

After dropping Bones off at the fire station, that she viewed as a perfect place for her work, Booth went to the local police station. They agreed to work with them on the case. He couldn't think of much else to do, so he went back to the fire station, where Bones had information on the body. Or, when he got there, bodies.

"There is at least two victims here. One is male, one is female. Both are between thirty and forty years of age. They have been dead for about a week and a half, so when they were found, about three days. That would put time of death last Friday or Saturday. They let me send Angela the skulls and particulates and flesh to Cam and Hodgins, but we have to keep everything else here for now. I found nicks in the ribs of each of the victims that look like stab wounds, and I feel confident that they are the cause of death."

"Great work Bones. Hey, it's almost one-thirty, let's go get some lunch." She tuned and smiled at him. She did not argue. She just said 'okay,' grabbed her purse and walked out with him. He put his hand on the small of her back like he always did, one of the many reasons everyone thought they were a couple.

"Where are we ganna eat?" Bone's asked as they sat in the car.

"Well, there's a Chinese food place and a Mexican food place about ten minutes away, one of the police officers I talked to said we should check out this Cambodian food restaurant in Scotts Valley, and everything else is about a half hour away. He told me there were a few chain restaurants in Scotts Valley as well, but I figure you would want to go someplace local."

"Chinese sounds good." She said.

"Great, we're supposed to pass the school on the way there, I've passed it a couple of times going to the police station, but I thought you may like to check out the scene after we eat."

"Okay." She said and smiled up at him.

They drove past a place called Quail Hollow Ranch, and an old shut down school. They drove down a mountain to them, but to the locals it was not much of one. They had only driven down the last part of the mountain. At the bottom they went on Glen Arbor Road, and tuned on to highway Nine. They passed over two bridges, and even the tree down below them next to the river towered above them. They drove past the school, but they couldn't see much of it from the road. When they made it into Felton, where they were planning on eating, they saw less trees right next to the road, and a bigger glance at the sky. The place they were eating was crowded, but the food was good. One their way back they drove into one of the three parking lots the school had. This one was the high school. This is when they got their first look at the huge trees. They walked past a tennis court, then basket ball courts, up a small road to a track and field. What lay beyond was a giant forest with giant trees. They walked over the track and field and up a few steps. They passed a small pre-school and a lone classroom which had been painted with a giant white bird on it. They saw a huge fenced in area with what looked like a water cleaning facility in it. What they didn't know, was that it was one. They walked into the forest, the road turning into dusty dirt. As they walked in the atmosphere began to change. It was more humid in there. Not as humid as Washington DC, but a nice humid. It was also much cooler. They walked up a small hill to the yellow tape, which was barely inside the forest. If they were with a local, they would have called it an ampatheater, or The Ampatheater. They saw that there was a cement ring with boards on top. It looked as if it used to be a stage, but the middle of it was long gone. The hill side next to them had a stair like effect, and was cleared of any trees. Bone's looked around the place. She took some samples for hodgins, but she didn't find anything special.

"You done?" Booth asked, after she had put away her scientific looking things.

"Yes, but I wish I wasn't," She said. "This place is so beautiful!" And it was, Booth agreed completely.

"You want to just sit here for a while?" She nodded her head.

"We would probably get lost if we walked too far, but can we walk in a little?" Booth nodded back. So they walked a little. They passed a mountain lion warning sign and came to a fork in the road. They chose to go over the bridge. They walked a few more seconds and then saw a small lake like body of water. They went over to it and sat. Right now it was full, but a dam was helping with that.

The beauty of the place was almost overwhelming. People who lived where were so lucky, getting to see this everyday. It was so calm and perfect. There was the small trickling sound of water, the leaves from the trees slowly falling down. Booth looked over at Bones. She was smiling. Her smile made him smile. The moment was perfect for him to do something like kiss her, but he didn't. He just put his arm around her, and she leaned her head in, resting it on her shoulder. They rested like that until it began to get cold.

* * *

Bones had shivered, and Booth had taken off his coat and put it around her.

"Thanks." She said.

"Common Bones, let's go." He helped her up, and they started walking back to the car. She leaned in close to him as they walked, but he had to pull away from her when they got to the small hill that came before the bridge. It was to steep for them to go down it like that without falling. But again she leaned into him when they mad it over the bridge. They walked to the car like that. Technically, nothing had changed, but it felt like something did. They checked the time in the car, and realized they had been there for two and a half hours. A half hour for Bones to do her squint work, and two hours sitting on the forest floor. They hadn't even noticed it the entire time how much time had gone by.


	3. The air conditioned nightmare

She awoke from her dreams without any knowledge of what they were. But she recognized them as bad dreams, because of the forceful feline wakeup, her heavy breathing, and the adrenaline running through her veins. There was no way she would be able to back to sleep. She checked her clock. 2:00am. Four more hours until she was supposed to be awake. One more hour until she was supposed to be awake if she was in DC. She got out of bed and turned on the light, about to get out her laptop and find something to do on it. But she was interrupted by a loud knocking on the motel door. When she opened it up, Booth was standing there, in full F.B.I. uniform. ""What are you doing, Booth?" She asked, though she was glad to see him, because now her boredom would be gone.

"Someone heard screams from their neighbor's house and called the police, and when the police got there, they called us for some reason. They want us to check it out. Get dressed Bones, we got to go."

"Can't murderers wait until morning?" She said with a sigh, but she found herself happy. Weird. She couldn't be happy someone was murdered. She was happy she could spend time with Booth, even though it's during the middle of the night.

* * *

Ten minutes later she was dressed and ready. They got in the rental car and drove. Booth turned up a steep driveway which led to two houses. He went to the right. There were squad cars out in front along with an ambulance.

They walked inside. The first body was that of a young boy, probably about nine, and was in the kitchen. The second body was on some stairs that led up to a bedroom, and was that of a male around forty. The next they saw was in what looked like one would call a media room, because of the huge projector on the wall. It was that of a girl, about seven or eight. The next was one of a woman probably in her late thirties. It looked like they had all been stabbed.

Brennan heard a noise while examining the adult male. Like a cry, but muffled. It had come from the bedroom. She walked up the stairs and saw a huge bed, a desk, a blue carpet. To her right there was a door to a bathroom, and to her left a door to a closet. She heard the noise again, and this time after wards, a distinct "Shh" from someone else. It came from the closet.

Brennan walked slowly to the closet. When she looked in there was a huge pile of clothes. She saw the pile move. She started tearing away at the pile, moving the lumps over to the side. Finally she grabbed something that pulled against her, as if someone was wearing it. "Don't hurt her." The pile mumbled, in between sobs.

"I'm not gann-"

"Please, don't hurt her!" the lump said, much louder this time. It sounded like… a girl. She rested her hand on her back, but the girl got up, holding what looked like a child in her arms. The child was clinging to her tightly.

"Wait!" Brennan yelled, "I'm not ganna hurt you." She watched as the girls running, which wasn't that fast due to the child that looked about four clinging to her, started to slow. The girl turned and saw Brennan. Her posture relaxed. The tears in her eyes began to drop. She walked over to the bed, letting her and the child fall onto to it and started sobbing. Brennan followed her instinct, which was to sit on the bed next to the girl and stroke her back.

Booth walked up the stairs. "Did you find- Wow!" The crying girl flipped over. There was a smile on her face, but there was still tears coming in little rivers down her face. Brennan looked questionably at the girl then turned to Booth, who immediately understood her question.

"She's relieved Bones. She is sad about what happened, but relieved that she and her.. sister probably… got out alive."

"Oh." Brennan said. She watched as the crying girl took her sister in her arms and brought her close to her, giving her a kiss on her head and holding her close to her, the whole time saying 'it's okay.'

Booth, who must have realized that Brennan had no idea on what to do next, walked over to the bed and said "Common, let's get you two out of here." The crying girl nodded, sat up, and grabbed her sister holding her tight. They walked out to the rental car, and Booth and Brennan got in. The crying girl set her sister on the seat and ran over to the minivan parked in the driveway. She tool out a car seat and hooked it up in the car in record time. She strapped the child in and sat next to her, stroking her head at the same time.

Once they were far enough away from the house, Booth decided to talk.

"Can you tell me your names?" He asked, trying to put as much concern in his voice as he could.

"I-I'm El-liz-iza-b-beth." She said in between sobs. "Elizabeth smi-ith. That's m-my si-ister, Kat-ty."

"Okay, Elizabeth. Do you have any relatives?" He looked in his mirror to see that Elizabeth had gained composure.

"Yeah, yeah but no one can take care, care of us."

"Okay, Elizabeth. We're ganna call your relatives, and if none of them can take care of you, we'll find someplace else for you to stay.

"Like- like a foster home?" He sighed. He hated doing this, especially with Bones here. She would hate this.

"Yes, yes like a foster home."

"No." To his surprise, the 'no' did not come from the girl, but from Bones. "No, They aren't going into the system, Booth. They are not."

He heard a sob of relief from the back.

"Bones, we can't-"

"Booth, I will not let them into the system."

"Fine Bones, Fine. We'll figure something out." He looked over and saw a tear trickle down Bones's face. He didn't like seeing her cry, especially if it felt like he had caused it. He put an arm on her shoulder for comfort, and she leaned her head on it.

* * *

"He ran out when he heard the sirens and said "I will find you next time. I was scared he was trying to draw us out though, so I stayed where we were hiding." Elizabeth said.

"Did you get a good look at him?" Booth asked.

"No, he was wearing some sort of mask."

"Any idea why he went after your family?"

"No, none at all."

"Thanks Elizabeth. You can go sleep on Bones's bed over there with your sister now.

"I don't think I can." She said, and just sat on the bed instead.

This was after they had retrieved the family's personal phone book and called all the relatives, after they had asked if anyone of them would be able to take them in. All of them answered maybe, which was just like answering 'No, I can't, but I will anyway if I have to.' There was no way Bones was going to let them into the system though, so they would have to find someone. Surprising all of this had happened and it was only three in the morning. Elizabeth had insisted she go to school the next day, and right now, she and her sister were in Bones's care, because of the whole 'her being a foster parent' thing. This was the second case where it had come in handy.

Bones had given in to the girl's pleading, as long as her and Booth could tag along. They were supposed to interrogate the school tomorrow anyway. They weren't sure if the two crimes were related, but Booth had another 'gut feeling.' This was a small town. Murders are rare, so this amount of murders at the same time are even rarer. It was probably less out there to say there was one person killing a lot of people than two people killing a few people.

He walked over to Bones and saw she was crying. "Bones, common, why don't you get some rest. Sleep in my room, I'll watch the girls."

""No Booth, it's fine. I should watch them."

"Bones, go get some sleep." He handed her his room card. She took it without anymore fuss.

"Thank you." She said, then walked outside and over one doorway.

* * *

An hour later, when Elizabeth was still up, Katy woke up. Elizabeth took her in her arms and put her on her lap.

"How old is she?" Booth asked. Instead of answering him, Elizabeth looked down at her sister.

"How old are you , Katy?" The small child turned to her sister and put four fingers on her face. Then said

"Four, Lizzy, four!" Booth noticed something strange when she did this. Elizabeth smiled. He could see the pain in her eyes, but she looked happy in a way.

"Are you being strong, you know, for your sister?"

"She can understand you Agent Booth." But he saw a slight nod of her head and a tear roll down her face.

"Are you sure you want to go to school tomorrow?" He asked deciding to change the subject. "They you're not ganna get much sleep tonight and I'm pretty sure you have a good excuse."

"You said you and Dr. Brennan would be there anyway, and Katy could come with me too, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then I want to go to school." She said, confidentially.

* * *

Brennan could not sleep. She had slept for an hour or so, but was awoken by another bad dream, so finally she just walked over to her room, which still had the lights on, and went inside.

"I couldn't sleep." She said, and sat down on a chair next to Booth, who was sitting on the floor being taught some sort of hand game by Katy. She heard a shower come from the bathroom. Booth looked up at her and smiled, and Katy, hit him in the chin with the palm of her hand. Brennan smiled.

"Elizabeth decided just to get ready for school. She said she wasn't going to be able to sleep so she might as well not be late to school for once. The local police brought over her school stuff and some of her clothes about fifteen minutes ago."

"What about Katy?" Booth held up a sheet of paper with some circles and letters and people like looking creatures on it.

"She drew me a picture."

"What do we know about them?" She asked, now somewhat curios.

"Katy is four, Elizabeth it thirteen. Katy goes to pre- school somewhere, but Elizabeth isn't sure where and when. The teacher's name is Autumn, and Elizabeth said she would try to find out. She knows her and her daughter."

"Social lives?" Brennan asked, not trying to be noisy, but was interested enough to start asking questions.

"I didn't ask about that. From what I can tell she is fine with telling us stuff. Maybe you could ask." The water in the bathroom shut off, and about five minutes later, a wet haired girl stepped out of the bathroom wearing a black and gray skirt, a button up blouse with a skinny black tie loosely around her neck. The outfit was different from anything they had ever seen before, but it suited the girl.

"You sure you want to go to school tomorrow, you're ganna be really tired." Brennan asked, not knowing how hard Booth had tried to change her mind.

"I'm sure, I've been tired at school plenty." She answered back.

"Hey Elizabeth, why don't you tell us about yourself, like your friends and what you like to do." She didn't seem taken aback by the question, so he figured she felt safe and was fine with speaking.

"Well, there is my best friend, Talli, and then there is James, who is in high school and is the only reason all of us eat at the cafeteria. Then there is Maddy, and Rina, who may call me her 'crazy duckling,' and Kendra, who you may see caring around a big ball of yarn." She said. Brennan was a little surprised by what she said, but it was middle school.

"And what about you, Liz, what do you like to do?" She had found Elizabeth a little long to say, so she tried the shortened version. She shrugged.

"Not much. Don't have any exact hobbies." She said.

"Well…" she paused, trying to think of what to ask next. "What about school? What grade are you in, and your classes?"

"Eighth. I have science, algebra, PE, a class that says language arts on my schedule, but seems a little too crazy to be one, history, and then I T.A. for a math class. I wanted to do Drama again, but I was already signed up to T.A." Brennan tried to pick out her emotions for each class. She thought she saw a little bit of sadness on the thing about drama, but she couldn't figure anything else out. Brennan smiled up at the teenager, and then heard something from next to her.

"No, no you did it wrong!" Katy said, pocking booth in the nose. Booth put his hands up as a sign of defeat and said

"Okay, okay, you win." Brennan laughed, and Elizabeth smiled a little bit.

* * *

**I was going to make each chapter one day, but I'm going to make two chapters for one day on this. **


	4. Act Naturally

At five thirty in the morning, while Bones was taking a shower, Booth asked Elizabeth what the best places to eat for breakfast were. She had been ready to go for about an hour, and they were all just sitting around waiting for something to happen.

"Depends," She said, "do you plan on eating again today?"

"Well sorta." He said a little sarcastically.

"Than don't go to Brookdale Lodge, You won't be able to eat again today."

"Well then where should we eat?" He asked

"Either Coffee Nine or Spankies." She said, taking a brush out of her bag, and slowly starting to brush Katy's short hair.

"How close are those?" He asked, not wanting to drive all the way into town. He knew this place was closed off. They probably didn't have many places to go.

"Three minutes tops… walking." She answered.

Bones stepped out of the Bathroom in jeans and a brand new blouse he decided Angela had forced her to get. He was having a tough time trying not to gawk.

"How do I look? Angela made me get it, but I wasn-"

"No Bones, no. You look beautiful." He said. She smiled. Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Thank you." She said, then her stomach rumbled.

"Common Bones, We got to get you fed!" Booth said.

"Booth, what place would possibly be open at five thirty?"

"Every breakfast place in the Valley…. And Taco Bell…" Elizabeth said.

"Why is everything open so early?" Booth asked.

"There open that early in DC, you just don't wake up that early. Early commuters have to eat somehow." Elizabeth said.

"Well where are we going?" Bones asked.

"Elizabeth suggested a place called Coffee Nine."

* * *

When they walked into the coffee shop someone called Elizabeth's name.

"Liz!" The lady at the cash register called. "What are you doing here so early in the weak? And so early too!" Apparently Liz was a regular. Booth found himself doing the same thing he did when he was in the interrogation room. He read her body language, and looked for lies. He had noticed a mental guard that he had only seen so strong on one other person in his life, Bones. He saw it at work. There was some fear in her eyes, and some sadness, but she put up a smile and said

"It's kinda a long story." She was good. Bones could put up a mental guard, but she couldn't trick other people. This girl could _lie_. But the lie was not quite a lie. It was more not telling her, and giving off fake emotions to say nothing was wrong. She didn't quite lie, but she didn't quite tell the truth.

"Well Liz, what can I get you?"

"One sour dough bagel lightly toasted with cream cheese, one pesto bagel lightly toasted with cream cheese, a small steamed milk and one of the orange juices over there." She pointed to the fridge which held a bunch of drinks. She didn't look at the menu. She didn't look at the food set out. She was definitely a regular.

"Anything else?" The cashier asked.

"Umm, yeah." She stepped away so Booth and Bones could order.

"Hey Liz, what tea do you suggest?" Bones asked. Even she realized the girl knew what she was doing.

"Any type of chi." Was her answer. Bones ordered the Chi, and then started to order the fruit cup, when Booth cut in.

"She'll have a plain croissant." He said. He wasn't going to let her starve. She was already too skinny. She gave him a nasty look and he just shrugged. He ordered a breakfast burrito with sausage.

* * *

When their orders were up Liz got up to get them. They didn't bring them to you, but Liz knew where to get them when they called out what had been ordered. Brennan liked the food, and by the way Booth ate his so quickly she could tell he liked his too. She was actually glad he had ordered for her too.

* * *

They were at her school forty-five minutes early, which was seven fifteen. They walked into the office, which was small and smelt like a doctor's office. Booth, Brennan, and Katy were given stickers with an apple on them that said 'visitor' after one of the office ladies heard the circumstances and gave Liz quite a few "you're crazy" looks. They then walked over to Liz's first class, science. She set her bag down, and imagined in her mind how hard she thought it would be to keep up her mental guard. This was going to be quite a difficult day. She walked back over to the others.

"Don't you have lockers?" Booth asked

"Yeah, for PE clothes." She thought about how only private schools had lockers for backpacks and how most people from DC would think that was crazy.

"Is it safe to leave your stuff there?" He asked, skeptically.

"Yeah." She answered

Brennan's phone rang.

"Brennan…. No Ange….. Thanks Ange, I have to tell you something… No I wasn't lying… No Ange, let me finish!.... There was… a few other murders last night." Liz's face was strait. No evidence of pain to the anthropologist, but she had an idea that Booth could see the pain. "Yeah… and a girl and her little sister… they… were the only ones… left… in the house……four…..yes, we did…. No, they don't…. Thirteen and four… Elizabeth and Katy….. thanks Ange, bye."

They saw only a few kids at the school at the moment. Not rare at all for being so early. Liz spotted Kendra, and walked over to her

"Hey." Kendra said. Liz put up a nice big fake smile on her face.

"Hey, Kendra." She could almost feel Booth's gawking and Brennan's ultra confused face. She had been acting for her whole life, why stop now?

"What's with the mini you, the body guard and… Oh. My. God. That is Temperance Brennan."

"Ummmm… Long story…."

"I love all your books!"

"Thank you." Brennan said, smiling back. Liz looked at Kendra, who was in her usual sports attire, and was carrying a giant ball of yarn.

* * *

It was now seven forty, and people were starting to crowd into the school. She had said hi to both Rina and Maddy along with Kendra. Though Talli, as usual, wasn't there yet. She knew the rumors had already started. Everyone knew they weren't her parents, so they were really wondering why they were following her around. And then of course Katy, who was carrying around a backpack with some printed out coloring sheets and crayons was also something to take into consideration. People already knew about the murder. No one knew who though. Rina had come up to her.

"Hey My Crazy Duckling! Did you hear about the murder?" While she was given a hug, Liz simply said

"Yeah, it's awful isn't it?" But she didn't tell her how she knew. She was quite good at hiding things.

"Who are the people following you… and the little kid… she looks a lot like you."

"She's my sister."

"Oh." Rina said, and Liz knew she hadn't realized she only answered one of her questions.

That was when a Zane came up to Liz. He was about her height, she could take him. She put her left foot back to keep her balance steady.

"Hey Lizard, how you doing?" He sounded like any normal person. He would fool someone like Brennan, but she figured Booth knew that he wasn't a good guy.

"Just fine Zane." She said, trying to back away.

"Why don't you come with me?" he asked. She was hoping with all her heart Booth wouldn't come up and protect her. He didn't.

"No Zane." She said, and turned around and walked away.

"He seamed nice, but why were you in a defensive position?" Brennan asked. Booth laughed.

"You see Bones, this is why you were smurfed."

"What?" She asked defensively.

* * *

Next she saw Maddy. She was given a hug and an unexpected lolly pop. When Maddy saw Katy, she got one too. They only talked for about five minutes though, because the bell rang. Time to Brave first period.

* * *

They waited outside for about five minutes before a teacher came. While they waited, Liz talked to someone. She didn't like her, that's all he could tell. They were all deciding which animals they were. When the teacher finally came, he was holding up a phone.

"Everyone say hi to Mr. Evans!" He said.

"Hi Mr. Evans." The people waiting outside the classroom, which was quite cold because the actually were outside, not in a hall way, chanted. The school's classroom doors lead to outside. To get to each class, you had to go outside. Everything was outside. It was all spread out, outside. It was… weird.

"Tell Mr. Evans He owes me a sandwich." The teacher said.

"You owe Mr. Russ a sandwich." The class chanted. Booth felt Bones tense up next to him. The name of her Brother surprised her.

"Where is the sub?" Someone asked.

"Stuck in traffic." The teacher said.

They walked into the classroom, and everyone took their seats. No one paid any attention to Booth and Bones in the back of the room, but they did look questioningly at Katy, who was sitting on Liz's lap. Liz, was sitting next to the girl who she did not like. The girl wrote something on her hand, and then Liz did too.

Another teacher, who must be the sub, walked into the room.

After letting Mr. Russ finish attendance, because he knew the kids better, he wrote "Fred" on the board. Since when did people stop using their last names? Then he explained why, by writing his last name on the board: Wolfeshausenberger. One of the kids asked if they could call him Mr. Wolf. That class went fine, but Booth could tell it was getting harder and harder for Liz to keep it up. She was going to break.

Booth thought about the investigation while the class was learning about stars. Actually they were watching a video on them, with opera music as the back-round. Angela had IDed the victims as Mr. And Mrs. Noel. Bones was going to go back to the fire station after lunch to work.

* * *

At the end of first period, everyone got up and started heading off to their next class like it was any other day, and to them, it was. She started walking to her math class, with Katy holding her hand and Booth and Brennan following close behind. About ten feet away from the door, she heard a familiar voice.

"Liz!" Niko, her neighbor. She put on the oh so familiar fake scowl that could easily turn into a smile and turned to face him.

"Katy is not dinner, kay? Go eat another baby." Booth was confused by the strange comment.

"I'm not a baby!" Katy said, defensively.

"Liz…no…you're crazy… just…no." This guy was obviously rude. Why wasn't she trying to get away, like with zane? Liz put one of her face smiles on, but with a glare and a role of her eyes. An… evil smile.

* * *

"Ditto." She said. Before she could walk into the classroom, he grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. She didn't fight. Weird. He was about to go tell the kid to get the hell away, but thought better. Liz had clearly been defending herself against Zane, but not this guy. Bones whispered

"Shouldn't you do something."

"Wait Bones." He said.

"No, stop smiling, stop acting all normal. Get down on your knees and cry or something!" Wait, did he know? Liz let go of Katy's hand, and the entire charade. By now everyone was in the classroom. The outside was empty, except for a short lady walking around, who yelled.

"Hey get to class!" At the two lingering students. Liz slid into a sitting position by sliding down a wall. The short lady, probably the campus supervisor or something, came up to them. By now Liz had begun to cry. She did not make a sound, just let a tear roll down her face. The bell rang. "You two, come with me." The lady said. She pulled out a notepad. You both got detention, and what's with the baby?"

"No... no her parents just got killed, no…no…" the boy said.

"No Niko, let's just go to class."

* * *

"She wiped the tear from her face and whispered "Thanks" in his ear as she walked into the classroom as if nothing was wrong. Sandy stuck her head in and said

"They were with me. Don't count 'em late." Booth must have talked to her. Sandy is the bad cop in the two campus supervisors' "Bad cop, good cop" routine. Margaret was the good cop… kinda. Niko followed her in. They grabbed the green slip of paper with the warm up, and the blue with their notes. Great way to start off math class? Pep talk with your neighbor!

* * *

**Sorry about the wait... I had to do this report, which I worked at least 24 hours on and got 27/30. I wrote an a book for crying out loud! My teacher grades waaaaaaay to hard..... any way, I was supposed to write a journal of someone on the Oregon trail, and ended up giving it a plot and everything.... I put a boy on it, they well... Let's just say they resembled b&b... but insted of the reason they couldn't jump each other being they had no idea they loved each other, it was that they were from the 1800's... but they got married :)**


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